


Study Buddy

by mikanies



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Miya Atsumu is a Little Shit, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, its not quite enemies to lovers but reader takes a while to warm to atsumu, this may get cheesy so im sorry in advance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27082519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikanies/pseuds/mikanies
Summary: Who would have expected you and Atsumu to become such good friends after being forced to work on a class project together?I mean, that's all you are... right?
Relationships: Miya Atsumu & Reader, Miya Atsumu/Reader
Comments: 10
Kudos: 68





	1. anyone but him

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so this is the first fanfiction i have written in a good few years lol (pls be nice to me) (altho constructive criticism is appreciated!)
> 
> i noticed a lot of atsumu x reader fanfic includes manga spoilers - i wanted to write something that was accessible for all fans so this story will not be accurate to the canon post time-skip storyline!
> 
> anyways i hope u enjoy reading! ill try and update at least once a week :)

You clutched the hot coffee as it slowly warmed your hands. Despite it already being the second week of May, the mornings were still often quite cold, which was not ideal for you since it was around a 20 minute walk to your university campus.

Thankfully, your wonderful roommate Haru always made you breakfast, as well as a coffee to take on your morning walks. Haru was amazing in the kitchen - she was always happy to cook for you and your other roommate, Michiko. They were both your good friends from last year, and you couldn't be happier to be living with them now that you're all second years.

After walking for a little while longer, you finally reached your only class of the day. _Why did I have to choose the class that has seminars on a Friday?_ you thought to yourself as you slumped down in your chair. _I could have had a day off!_

This seminar was for your linguistic typology class, where you would study different languages and their features. Whilst you did find this field of linguistics incredibly interesting, you weren't sure whether it was worth a lecture every Tuesday and an intensive seminar every Friday. Thanks to your busy schedule, you were often pretty exhausted by the time Friday rolled around.

To make matters worse, Michiko - who also studied linguistics - hadn't chosen this class, leaving you alone and surrounded by people that you hardly knew. I mean, it wasn't like you didn't know anyone else on your course, it just so happened that no one in this class was that familiar to you.

The door swung open, cutting off your train of thought and making you look up from your desk.

 _Ah_ , you thought. _Except for him_.

In walked Miya Atsumu, taking a seat near the back of the class and a few desks away from you. You vaguely knew of him. He was said to be one of the best players on the university's boys volleyball team - any student interested in sports would know who he was. It wasn't that you were particularly interested in sports, but rather that he was the friend of one of Haru's good friends, Rintarou Suna.

Haru and Suna were course-mates, and there had been a few occasions where you and Michiko had hung out with Haru and her friends, Suna included. You wouldn't say you were good friends with Suna, but you definitely got on well with him. Initially, his deadpan and sarcastic manner had intimidated you from talking to him much, but after a few conversations you found that he was actually a rather chill and approachable person. Of course, him being a friend of Atsumu meant that Atsumu had also been present once or twice during these hangouts, but you'd never actually had any kind of conversation with him.

In fact, you weren't even quite sure why he was in this class. You'd never seen him in any classes last year, so you could only assume he didn't also study linguistics. Not to mention, he didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the content - he was frequently falling asleep in lectures and turning up to seminars unprepared. You'd be lying if you said your impression of him was nothing but positive.

You were so deep in thought that you hadn't realised you'd been staring at him this whole time, only to be brought back to reality when he turned his head to meet your gaze. You quickly snapped out of it, turning back to the front of the class to focus on the tutor who had now begun talking. You inwardly cringed at being caught staring, hoping that Atsumu didn't think much of it, before gripping your pen and willing yourself to focus on the class.

—

Before the seminar was about to finish, the tutor reminded everyone of the project due towards the end of the semester.

"So, as you all know, for this class you have to complete a project in pairs. The grade you receive for this project will account for 70% of your overall grade, the other 30% coming from the end of semester exam. I will be emailing you all later today with more information about what you have to do, as well as who I have allocated as your project partner."

A few students groaned in response - everyone had been hoping that they'd be able to pick their own partners. You couldn't help letting out a frustrated sigh yourself.

"Alright, alright. I expected that you wouldn't all be happy about this but it's important that you learn how to work with people you don't perhaps know very well", he explained. "Don't forget that whilst you will be graded separately, I will be taking into account how well you seem to get on with your partner. You'll be allowed to review how well you think your partner worked at the end of the project, so it is in your best interest to be cooperative. You will be presenting your project in the last week of June, so I suggest getting in touch with your partner as soon as possible."

As everyone began to pack up their things, you sat for a moment to think about what you were just told. You had known about the project before choosing this class, and even though you didn't really know anyone here, you'd at least hoped you'd be able to pick out someone who seemed nice and hardworking enough. But now that that choice was out of your hands, you were beginning to worry what could happen to your grade if paired with the wrong person.

You grabbed your bag from under your chair and swung it onto your desk, accidentally knocking your pencil case off in the process, the contents spilling out onto the floor. You cursed yourself for being so clumsy, leaning down to pick everything up - almost everyone else had left, so unfortunately there was no one nearby who could help.

"Oh, Atsumu. Would you mind hanging back for just a second?" you heard the tutor say. You looked up to see Atsumu about to leave, turning away from the door and walking back to the tutor's desk, a confused look on his face.

"I had a conversation with your coach recently. Unfortunately, I had to tell him about how you're performing in this class, and he wasn't best pleased."

You quickly realised that the conversation they were having was serious, and hurriedly tried to gather your things so that you could leave as soon as possible.

"I'm sure you're already aware that poor performance in class could risk you losing your spot on the team, yes?"

"I know... I promise I'll try my hardest to improve," Atsumu replied, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Hmm... unfortunately, promises aren't good enough right now, Atsumu. I'm going to need to see some real change, and some real dedication towards this project as well."

You had finally managed to pack away all your things. Throwing your bag over your shoulder, you made a beeline for the door.

"Oh! Y/N! I didn't even realise you were still here. You're just the person I need right now!" the tutor exclaimed.

You slowly turned to look at him, unable to hide the worry on your face. Your eyes flicked over to look at Atsumu, who was staring at the ground, visibly stressed.

"I hadn't officially assigned any pairs yet, but I think it would be great if you worked on the project with Atsumu, Y/N."

Your eyes widened in shock.

The tutor turned to look at Atsumu. "Y/N is one of the best students in this class - I think she'll be the perfect partner to help you do well on this project."

Atsumu looked up at you, an unreadable expression on his face. You forced a smile and turned back to the tutor.

"Of course, I'll make sure both Atsumu and I do our best," you replied, trying your hardest to conceal the panic you were feeling.

"Great! I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with." The tutor smiled back at you.

As you and Atsumu began to walk out of the classroom, the tutor called out to Atsumu one last time.

"Atsumu, I know you're capable of doing well, so please do put the work in".

Atsumu just nodded in response, before heading out the door with you following closely behind him.

Your thoughts were a jumbled, panicked mess. _Why? Why him? I could have dealt with anyone but him. My grade is screwed for sure now._

As you pulled the door shut behind you, you decided to break the silence first.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdr-"

"Where do I know you from?"

You looked up, startled by Atsumu suddenly cutting you off like that.

"Oh... um, you might have seen me hanging out with Suna sometimes. My friend is course mates with him so we kinda know each other. You and him are friends, right?"

"Ohhh yeah, that'll be it. And yeah, we live together," he replied nonchalantly. It seemed that he was acting differently to how he was in the classroom just then, which was strange. He was standing tall, a hint of a smirk on his face and a slight gleam of confidence in his eyes. Just like that, he'd returned to his usual self.

"I see, that's cool." You gave him a small smile, not really knowing how else to respond.

"So, about this project... do you wanna just exchange numbers for now? I'll text ya when we get the email with more info," he asked, offering his phone out to you.

"Sure," you replied, hesitantly taking his phone from him and keying your number into his contacts. There was something about the way he was looking at you - you couldn't quite place your finger on it, but you'd be lying if you said it didn't make you nervous.

After getting his number from him as well, you slipped your phone into your pocket and turned back to him. "Great, I'll hear from you soon then, yeah?" You did your best to smile at him.

"Sure thing. Oh, and by the way..." His smirk seemed to grow a little bigger. "Try not to look so worried. I'm not going to mess your grade up," he quipped, his tone playful.

You were taken aback at how easily he was able to read you, despite your best efforts to act like nothing was wrong.

"You better not," you retorted, shooting a slight smirk back at him.

He was practically grinning at you at this point.

"Besides, you should be happy that you're paired with me. You seemed to be quite enthralled with me earlier."

Your eyes widened in shock as you realised he was referring to him catching you staring before.

"I wasn't-... I didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he said, looking particularly amused at you fumbling over your words. Before you could even think of a clever response, he raised his hand to pat you on the head a couple of times.

Your mouth fell open ever so slightly in shock, watching him give you one last grin before turning to walk away.

"Hey!" you called after him. He laughed, continuing to walk and raising his hand in a slight wave.

"See ya later, Y/N".

You could still hear the smirk in his voice. You watched his retreating figure for a moment, before angrily turning to walk in the opposite direction. You could feel your cheeks burning with embarrassment from letting him tease you like that.

_I wasn't even staring at him in that way! Ugh._

You knew that Atsumu was a character, to say the least, but you could already tell his playful attitude was going to get on your nerves. Sighing, you did your best to calm yourself down - at least once you got home you'd be able to rant to Haru and Michiko about it.

_Well, this is definitely going to be one interesting project._


	2. why are you so rude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have nothing to do atm so i'm updating this a lot earlier than i intended!
> 
> this chapter had me digging through my old linguistics notes lol. there'll be some terminology here and there - don't worry if you don't understand it, it shouldn't affect your understanding of the general plot. i'm just including them for accuracy.
> 
> please let me know your thoughts! thank you so much for reading <3

Finally having made it home to your apartment, you jammed your keys into the front door and swung it open, quickly calling out to your roommates to let them know you were home. Michiko's head popped out from the kitchen doorway, a large smile already on her face.

"Y/N! You're right on time - Haru's just made a pot of tea."

You smiled back at her, kicking your shoes off and breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank God, that is _just_ what I need right now."

You followed Michiko into the kitchen, giving Haru a quick wave upon seeing her behind the kitchen counter. For a three person student apartment, it was actually relatively nice - the kitchen was connected to a small living room space with a big sofa and a few comfy chairs, and there was always a lot of natural light thanks to the large windows. It was a common occurrence for the three of you to stay up in here until the early hours of the morning, either having deep conversations or watching some interesting Netflix documentary.

"How was your day, Y/N?" Haru asked, lifting her head up momentarily from pouring the tea into three cups. You sighed, taking a cup and walking over to the sofa to sit down, Michiko joining you and Haru choosing an armchair across from the two of you.

"Let's just say it wasn't the best end to my week."

Both the girls instantly looked worried, evidently keen to know what had happened. So you told them - everything from the project to Atsumu, quite frankly, treating you like a child.

"Jeez..." Michiko breathed out once you were finished. "D'you think there's any way you can change partners?"

"I don't think so. It really seems like our tutor is counting on me to help him improve."

"To be fair," Haru chimed in, "Atsumu hasn't been that bad when I've hung out with him. Sure, he can be annoying, but he's never been, like, _mean_ or anything _,_ y'know? I think things'll get easier between the two of you once you get to know each other."

You took a sip of your tea, grumbling a small response about how "they better". Michiko reached out and comfortingly patted your shoulder.

"Don't worry, Y/N. You're such a good student, I'm sure you'll still be able to pull it off no matter what happens!" She offered you a big smile as Haru hummed in agreement. You smiled back, already feeling better now that you'd managed to get everything off your chest. The three of you sat in silence for a moment as you all sipped on your tea, before Michiko piped up again.

"Okay, someone has to say it though. He's hot as _fuck_."

Haru laughed as you threw your head back against the sofa in annoyance, although you were unable to contain your own chuckles at Michiko's bluntness.

"What?!" Michiko exclaimed defensively. "Am I wrong?"

"Nah, I see it," Haru agreed, throwing an amused look your way. You sighed loudly.

"Okay yeah, he's attractive, but good looks aren't exactly gonna help my grades, are they?"

"I was just saying!" Michiko remarked, the ghost of a smirk on her face. "Besides, it'd probably be worse if you were one of his fans. Then it would be _really_ hard to concentrate."

The three of you laughed at that. Michiko was right - perhaps that was one of the very few silver linings of this whole ordeal.

"God, imagine that. At this rate I'd be surprised if we even became _friends_ ," you mumbled, shaking your head slightly as you chuckled to yourself.

You all continued to talk for a little while longer, until eventually retreating back to your respective bedrooms to get on with studying. As you placed your books onto your desk, you smiled to yourself as you reminisced on how you'd first met your two roommates.

It had been the first day of your first year, and you found yourself sat next to Michiko in an introductory linguistics lecture. She had instantly introduced herself, offering you a big smile and keenly asking you about yourself in an attempt to get to know you. You had been much more shy in comparison to her, but her bubbly demeanor quickly helped you come out of your shell. Soon, you felt very comfortable around her, as if you hadn't only just met her a few days ago. Coincidentally, the both of you had practically all of your classes together so it didn't take long for you two to become almost inseparable.

Haru, on the other hand, studied Japanese literature. You didn't meet her until Michiko had dragged you to a cooking club session for fun. Unfortunately, the two of you weren't the best team when it came to cooking, leading to quite a few culinary mishaps. Haru had been working nearby and felt obligated to come and step in once Michiko almost accidentally set fire to a dish cloth. Thankfully, Haru had found your poor cooking skills rather amusing and decided to help. The three of you instantly hit it off and ever since then you'd been hanging out as a trio, doing almost everything together (aside from cooking club - you and Michiko had decided it was best to leave that to Haru).

You didn't have many other close friends at university, but you figured you didn't really need anyone else with Haru and Michiko by your side. You really were lucky to have them.

ー

In the late afternoon, you received the email from your tutor explaining the details of the project. To put it simply, you and your partner would have to choose a foreign language and analyse three areas of that language, such as syntax, phonology, and so on and so forth. You would then present your findings to your tutor and seminar group in the final week of June, which is what you would be graded on. You breathed a sigh of relief - to you, the project didn't seem too difficult so, depending on how Atsumu copes, the next few weeks could go quite smoothly. Thankfully, you could also submit a questionnaire after your presentation in which you review how well you think your partner worked.

 _At least I can always flame Atsumu's ass at the end if he doesn't pull his weight_ , you thought, smirking to yourself a little.

By the time you had finished with all your work, it was already evening. You could hear Haru and Michiko chatting away in the kitchen as they cooked dinner together. As you were about to go and join them, your phone buzzed with - as promised - a text from Atsumu.

 **miya** **atsumu**  
hey, i know this is last minute but would you wanna start working on the project tomorrow? you're welcome to just come to my place if you're comfortable with that

 **y/n**  
sure, that works for me. will suna be there?

 **miya** **atsumu**  
damn, you only care about suna huh? 😔

 **y/n**  
no dumbass, i was just asking cos you said you live together

 **miya** **atsum** **u**  
lol ik im jk

 **miya** **atsumu**  
but yeah he'll be here, so dw you won't be alone with me

 **y/n**  
good 😌

 **miya** **atsumu**  
why are you so rude 🙄

 **y/n**  
thats rich coming from you 🙄

After bickering back and forth for a bit, you agreed that you'd meet at Atsumu's for around 11am tomorrow. You found yourself laughing a little as you texted him - as long as you could come up with quick responses to his remarks, you reckoned you'd be able to tolerate him well enough. From his tone, it definitely seemed like he was used to having people interact with him like this. As you said, he was quite the ~~little bitch~~ _character_. 

Tossing your phone onto your bed, you headed out to the kitchen to go and cook with your roommates, pushing all thoughts of tomorrow out of your mind for now.

ー

Thankfully, Atsumu's place was only around a 10 minute walk from yours so it didn't take that long until you were stood outside his door, giving it a quick knock. It opened a few moments later to reveal Atsumu, a smile on his face as he welcomed you inside.

"The kitchen's just up ahead - we can work in there if you're cool with that."

You nodded in response, taking your shoes off before walking down the corridor, Atsumu following closely behind you. Upon entering the kitchen, you saw Suna sat on the sofa watching the TV. Just like your own apartment, the kitchen included a small living space, although admittedly Atsumu's apartment did seem to be a bit bigger than yours.

Suna looked over at the sound of you coming in and smiled upon seeing you, turning off the TV and getting up from the sofa.

"Hey, Y/N. It's been a while, huh?"

"Yeah, it has!" you responded. "How have you been, Suna?"

You and Suna spent a few minutes just catching up, talking about what you got up to in your break and how second year was treating you both so far. Suna smirked when you commented on how this year was definitely more difficult than last year, and he turned his head to look over in Atsumu's direction before looking back at you.

"I can imagine, especially since you've been paired with this one," he remarked, gesturing towards Atsumu with his thumb. "You really pulled the short straw there, didn't you?"

You laughed in agreement as Atsumu - who had been setting up his notes on the table - shot his head up, an offended look on his face.

"Hey! You two aren't allowed to gang up on me! Y/N's _my_ guest after all."

"Oh please," you scoffed in response. "I'm hardly here for _you_ , am I?"

Atsumu stuck his tongue out at you, making you roll your eyes and mumble "so childish" under your breath as you went to take a seat next to him at the table. Suna just laughed at your interaction, jokingly reminding you both to _please_ not rip each other's heads off as he headed back to his room.

And you had to say, following Suna's orders soon proved to be very, very difficult.

" _No_ , Atsumu, postpositions come _after_ a noun phrase. Prepositions come _before_."

He groaned with his head in his hands, clearly frustrated. It had been half an hour already and it had quickly become obvious to you that Atsumu was fairly hopeless at linguistics. You were doing your best to stay patient, but the urge to just snap at him was building in your chest. You hadn't even got round to properly discussing the project yet because you'd been so busy trying to teach him the content from previous weeks. It especially didn't help that - whilst he did seem determined to learn and answer things correctly - if he didn't understand something straight away then he'd get annoyed. The fact that he was hardly understanding anything that you were trying to teach him had certainly taken a toll on his motivation, to say the least.

You huffed out of frustration, doing your best to calm yourself down.

"Look, in the nicest way possible, why did you even take this class? It doesn't really seem like linguistics is your... thing," you asked, trying to keep your tone kind.

He sighed and sat up, staring at his fingers as he fiddled with them on top of his notebook. "That's the issue, I didn't _want_ to choose this class."

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Atsumu continued to explain.

"I'm on a sports scholarship here and I've always wanted to play volleyball professionally. But I figured I'd study something unrelated to sports to, y'know, _broaden my horizons_ or whatever, so I actually study psychology. I was a bit late to picking my classes this year though. I had a few extra credits to fill but all the classes I wanted to take were full already, so I had to take this one."

You were silent for a second, mulling over what he just said.

"Hm, yeah, that does seem pretty rough. Especially since keeping your spot on the team relies on you doing well academically and all," you mumbled in response.

"What? Oh- yeah, sorry, I forgot you overhead that conversation yesterday," Atsumu said, looking up at you momentarily before returning his gaze to his hands. "That's the thing too, I don't even _mean_ to do badly, I swear. I'm at volleyball practice every Monday night and I often stay late, so then I'm super tired the next day and 'cos the lecture's at 9am I always accidentally fall asleep, and then I miss most of it so I struggle to do the homework for the seminar and... yeah, it's a vicious cycle."

You chuckled a bit at Atsumu's rambling, but deep down you felt kind of bad for misjudging him. This whole time you'd assumed him to be this lazy student, when really he was genuinely trying his best. Feeling a bit more sympathetic towards him, you did your best to comfort him.

"Shit, I'm sorry - I didn't realise you were struggling so much. If it helps, we could always meet twice a week instead of just once, that way we can spend one day going over the content together and the other actually working on the project?"

He looked up at you, a soft smile on his face and an appreciative twinkle in his eye. "Really? That'd be so great, Y/N, thank you."

"Of course!" You returned his smile. Ideally, you wouldn't have to see Atsumu more than once a week but you knew you were going to have to make that sacrifice if you wanted to guarantee a good final grade. There was no way you'd be able to do that if he continued to struggle by himself.

A comfortable silence settled between the two of you, and a small part of you actually felt good about your plan. As long as Atsumu cooperates, perhaps this could be a rather rewarding experience for you.

However, it wasn't long until his usual smirk had returned to his lips.

"Look at you, bein' all nice to me," he quipped, cocking his head a little to the side.

You instantly rolled your eyes, the moment now ruined.

"I'm doing this for my grade, not for you. _Don't_ get it twisted."

"Sureee~" he responded in a playful tone, evidently not believing you, to which you (not so) lightly punched him in the arm. He feigned a look of shock before chuckling at your clearly irritated expression, obviously amused at your reaction.

Yeah, it was safe to say your feelings of sympathy towards him had all but disappeared.


	3. i'll actually fight you

Despite your study session with Atsumu on Saturday being rather exhausting, you had definitely made some progress. He was slowly getting to grips with some basic terminology and concepts - it wasn't much, but it was definitely something considering how clueless he'd been at the beginning. You had also both decided on Spanish as the language you would base your project on. Ideally, you would have used this opportunity to study a rarer and more obscure language for the sake of your own interest, but you figured that Atsumu's head may explode from confusion if you did that. 

The following Tuesday, you walked into the lecture theatre and instantly scanned the room, your gaze eventually falling upon a familiar blond haired figure slumped over the desk a couple rows from the back. You quickly walked up the steps towards him, shuffling into the same row and dropping your bag onto the desk with a rather loud thud upon reaching the seat next to him. At this, he jolted awake and sat upright in his chair, turning towards you with a bewildered expression on his face.

"I'm only sitting with you so I can prod you awake whenever you drift off," you said as you took your notebook out from your bag.

He groaned in response, grumbling out a sarcastic "good morning to you too" before resting his head back down on his arms in front of him, to which you gave him a light shove on the shoulder.

" _Alright_ , alright, I'll _try_ to stay awake," Atsumu muttered as he sat up again and began to unpack his bag along with you, his bottom lip slightly jutted out in a sulk. You chuckled quietly to yourself - clearly, sleepy Atsumu was an irritable Atsumu.

It was a good thing that you decided to sit with him too, because he did in fact almost nod off around every 10 minutes or so, to which you would have to start relentlessly prodding him in the shoulder. This would have been tolerable if it were not a two hour long lecture, meaning that your hand was growing rather tired towards the end. However, when Atsumu was awake, he did do his best to concentrate. You had noticed from your study session that whenever he was struggling to understand something, he would furrow his eyebrows and start to fidget, often by lightly tapping his pen on his notebook - each time he started doing this during the lecture, you would make sure to lean over and try to whisper a simple explanation of what was going on. He always seemed to be very genuinely appreciative of this, which was a nice change from the scowls he would throw your way whenever you had to interrupt his snoozing. 

By the time the lecture had finished, all you - and probably Atsumu as well - wanted to do was go home and take a much needed nap. But unfortunately, you were going to have to stick around each other for a little while longer. You had decided that the best time to go over course content with him would be immediately after your lecture - that way you could quickly clear up any confusion he had and also help him with the seminar work due Friday.

"Man... ya jabbed my arm so much I think it'll bruise," Atsumu mumbled, sleepily rubbing his eye with his hand as you both slowly headed towards the library. You gave a short laugh.

"Have you considered maybe not practising so late? Then I wouldn't _have_ to jab you."

He threw an irritated look your way. "Oh, I'm sorry for prioritising my future career over a class I don't even wanna _be_ in."

You threw your hands up slightly in defense. "Okay, I was just making a suggestion..."

He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We just have an important tournament next semester so I gotta make the most of my practices, y'know."

"That's fair, but if you wanna actually be on the court and not the bench then you need to do well in this class, right?"

He grumbled out a small "touché", a defeated look on his face. You did feel bad for him, but you also knew that he couldn't carry on overworking himself at practice like this. Sensing his disgruntlement though, you decided to drop the conversation for now, hoping that you'd at least managed to get through to him a little.

Upon arriving at the library and settling down to study, it quickly became clear that perhaps it was not the most ideal study location for the two of you. You had chosen a large open space, surrounded by other students working away at their desks. It wasn't completely silent, but it was quiet enough so that speaking any louder than a hushed voice would earn you some dirty looks.

Unfortunately, Atsumu seemed to struggle with this.

He was a loud person in general, which often meant that he could easily dominate conversations and gain the attention of an entire room. And it was clear that putting him in an environment in which he _had_ to be quiet didn't suit him particularly well. It also didn't help that his lack of sleep, as well as general patience, resulted in him being particularly grouchy. Any time he didn't understand something he would loudly groan in frustration, sometimes exclaiming how none of this made sense to him or that it was all too hard. You did your best to stay calm and patient with him, but it wasn't long until it felt like everyone around you was shooting daggers in your direction.

After enduring this for about half an hour, you decided that maybe it was time for a change of scenery and suggested going to a nearby cafeteria instead. There, Atsumu could be as loud as he wanted and hopefully you would be able to work the rest of your way through the seminar worksheet. However, you only managed to get another 20 minutes of studying in until he seemed to become distracted.

"So since this language has a dominant VSO order, it will always- hey, are you even listening?"

Atsumu was staring off at something behind you - almost as if he were in a trance - before his eyes flitted back to you, blinking a couple of times in an attempt to refocus himself. "Oh, y-yeah sorry. Please continue."

You frowned at him slightly and turned around to see what it was, your eyes falling on a long line of people queueing up to buy lunch. Turning back to face him, you checked your phone for the time - it had already gone 12. 

"If you're hungry, we can stop here for today. There's only a couple questions left and I think you'll cope with them fine. Any issues though just feel free to text me, yeah?" you said with a sigh.

At that, he gave you a relieved smile. "Yeah I will! Thank you so much, Y/N." He practically threw his notebook and pens into his bag before giving you a small wave goodbye and darting off to join the queue. You let your head rest in your hands for a moment as you watched him walk away - at least now you could finally head home and get that nap you'd been craving.

—

As you had expected, Atsumu managed to complete the rest of the worksheet on his own, only texting you once to during the week to double check the definitions of some terminology. Your help seemed to already be paying off too, because for the first time that semester he actually willingly participated in the seminar. Albeit he didn't get absolutely everything right, he still managed to take part in group discussions and follow along with what was going on.

Once the seminar had finished, he looked over and flashed a big grin at you, although you could see in his eyes that he intended it as a subtle brag about how well he'd done. You rolled your eyes at him in response but were unable to keep the smile off your own face, happy that your torturous time together on Tuesday had at least paid off somewhat. As you left the classroom, the seminar tutor called out to Atsumu.

"Well done today, Atsumu. You did really well," he praised, a look of genuine pride on his face. His eyes then flicked over to you, offering you a warm smile as an acknowledgement that Atsumu's improvement was definitely thanks to you.

You smiled back at him, happy that he wasn't letting Atsumu take all the credit. Although, you couldn't ignore the _slight_ petty annoyance you felt over how this obviously only validated your tutor's decision to pair the two of you together. Of course, you would still have _much_ preferred a more easygoing, tolerable partner.

Upon exiting the classroom, Atsumu was already there waiting for you, a large smirk on his face.

"Ya hear that, Y/N? Better watch out before the student becomes the master." He teased, evidently trying to provoke you, but you were quick to smirk back at him.

"Oh yeah? Remind me what the head-directionality parameter is again?" You cocked your head slightly to the side as you watched the smirk drop off his face. You were unable to contain your laughter - it was like you could see the cogs turning in his head, desperately trying to think of the answer.

"That's what I thought - see you tomorrow!" you exclaimed in a cheery tone, patting his shoulder and beginning to walk away from him. You were still half smirking, half smiling to yourself even after you had exited the building - Atsumu's playful demeanor sure was contagious.

And now here you were the next day, once again sitting in his kitchen and working on your project together. Upon your arrival, Atsumu had swung the door open and - before you could even say hello - practically yelled, "the head-directionality parameter determines whether a language is head-initial or head-final!"

You had been a bit confused for a moment before remembering the question you had asked him yesterday. You had rolled your eyes as he continued to stare at you, a determined look on his face, pushing him aside as you teasingly commented, "Only took you an entire day", which elicited a small "oh shut up" from him.

The first half an hour or so was spent researching some introductory facts about Spanish, such as its origins and language family. Thankfully, none of this was too difficult for Atsumu just yet, so you'd managed to go this whole time without bickering at all. Once you figured you had covered enough of the language's background, you decided to move onto starting the first of your four topics.

"So, we've already learnt about phonology in previous lectures. Do you remember much about it?" you asked, praying that the answer was yes. Atsumu squinted his eyes a little as he thought. 

"...Yeah, I think so. That's like to do with sounds and stuff, right?"

You smiled. "Exactly that! I thought that maybe we could go over the sounds of Spanish now and then see which relevant concepts and theories apply later?"

He nodded eagerly in response and you turned to your laptop, breathing a sigh of relief. _Thank God, I did not want a repeat of last week._

However, Atsumu's motivation seemed to dissipate slightly once you pulled up a table of the international phonetic alphabet, which was a set of (admittedly daunting-looking) symbols that represent all the possible sounds a language could have.

"Wait, do I have to know what _all_ of these mean?" he exclaimed, his eyes frantically scanning over all of the symbols.

" _No_ , silly, Spanish only has-" you paused to point to the appropriate ones, "...these sounds."

He gave a nod in response, his eyes still flitting over the table. "So... how do I even begin to read them?"

The funny thing about phonology was that since it's the study of sounds, it often leads to people attempting to make all the sounds themselves. Whilst it can be quite embarrassing to just make random noises, it would also often get pretty amusing when you're with other people. You and Atsumu were no exception to this. You started by pronouncing an individual sound to him and letting him repeat it back to you, doing this a few times for each sound. However, you both began to feel pretty silly, doing your best not to crack up. It got to the point where you were practically chanting an 'oo' sound back and forth at each other and you were unable to contain your laughter any longer, the both of you descending into a fit of hysterics.

"...Am I interrupting something?"

Your head shot up to look at the door, your eyes falling upon a tall, unfamiliar man who was giving you both an amused look. Upon seeing him, your laughter stopped and you began to feel heat creep up your neck out of embarrassment.

"Oh, hey Aran! Nah we're just, uh, studying," Atsumu said in a tone as if he was even trying to convince himself, still chuckling a little. "This is my project partner, Y/N."

You gave Aran a small wave and a sheepish smile, to which he warmly smiled back and briefly introduced himself as Atsumu's other roommate, before turning back to Atsumu.

"By project, do you mean that one for that linguistics class you were forced into taking?" Aran asked curiously, pacing over to stand behind the two of you and glance at the work out in front of you.

"Yup, Y/N's practically having to reteach me everything too."

Aran pulled a face as he looked over the IPA chart, clearly not envious of what you were studying. "Well, I wish you the best of luck, it seems like you'll need it."

As Aran began to walk away, he turned back around to look over at you, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Oh, especially you Y/N, you'll _definitely_ need it with Atsumu as your partner."

"Oh I _know_ ," you responded amidst your laughter, particularly amused by how it had only been a week since Suna had made a very similar remark. Atsumu's mouth fell open in shock, clearly offended to be thrown under the bus by yet another roommate.

"Is _anyone_ on my side around here?!"

You and Aran shared a knowing look and laughed together before he headed out the kitchen. You turned back to Atsumu, still laughing a little as he sat there shaking his head in disbelief.

"We're only joking," you teased, lightly patting his shoulder as if to comfort him. He threw a glare your way but you could tell that he wasn't actually offended.

"I know, I've been putting up with his comments for _years_ now."

"Oh? You didn't meet each other at university?" you asked, genuinely curious.

"Nah, we actually went to high school together along with Suna," Atsumu answered, relaxing back into his chair a little and staring off into the distance with a small smile on his face. "Aran's in the year above us so he was already here when we joined. It was really nice to reunite though. We all used to be on the same volleyball team and I think he missed having his teammates around. It was definitely nice to have a familiar face around from the start too - it made the beginning of first year a lot less scary, y'know?"

You nodded along as Atsumu spoke. He talked about his roommates so fondly and it was kind of nice to listen to - you could tell they meant a lot to him, even if he wouldn't outright admit it. He scoffed a little, his smile growing bigger.

"Although, since they've known me so long, they know all the ways to get under my skin. It's constantly two against one in here."

You smirked at that, leaning your head in your hand as you looked at him. "Well, I guess I'll have to ask them for some pointers."

"Do that and I'll actually fight you."

"Go on then, I'll just get Suna and Aran to join and we'll make it three against one."

He smirked back at you for a moment, shaking his head a little at your bickering, before mirroring you by resting his own head in his hand. 

"So who do you live with then?"

You told him all about Haru and Michiko, including how you met and what they're both like. He was slightly familiar with Haru thanks to the few times he'd hung out with her and Suna, commenting on how she seemed like a cool person, to which you agreed. He also seemed amused by your description of Michiko, specifically her exuberant personality which you claimed to often bring out the more mischievous sides of you and Haru.

"Hmm, I'd like to see that," he commented offhandedly, giving you a thoughtful look.

You simply hummed in response, but internally you didn't know how to feel about his words. On one hand, you were interested to see how Atsumu and your roommates - particularly Michiko - would interact. You could imagine that him and Michiko would get along like a house on fire, which would be incredibly amusing to you and Haru.

However, the thought of Atsumu hanging out with your friends was weird - not necessarily in a bad way, just... weird. I mean, were you and Atsumu even technically friends? You didn't think so. Could you see yourself becoming friends, though?

Perhaps.

—

Thankfully, you and Atsumu had eventually got back to studying and made a good amount of progress. Since you had gone round to his place mid-afternoon, it had already grown quite late by the time you were finished - luckily, Haru had texted you inviting you to come and get ramen with her and Michiko since they were already out. The restaurant wasn't that far from Atsumu's, so you had quickly bid him goodbye and headed out to meet your roommates.

Upon entering the restaurant, you saw the two of them waving at you from a booth in the corner. As you approached them, you saw several shopping bags stuffed underneath the table, making your mouth fall open in shock.

"So whilst I'm stuck studying with _Atsumu_ , you guys are out having a shopping day?" you dramatically exclaimed, flopping down on the seat next to Haru. They both sheepishly smiled at you, sharing a guilty look, before Michiko launched into her defense.

"We're sorry! We only meant to go out to window-shop but then it just kinda snowballed into an actual shopping spree and..." she trailed off, trying to think of a decent excuse. "Anyway I bought you come cute things so it's not like we forgot about you!"

You tried to keep up the stony expression on your face but eventually you couldn't contain your laughter, especially since Michiko was giving you her best puppy dog eyes. 

"Nah I'm only playing with you, I'm glad you guys had fun!"

Michiko smiled brightly at you, Haru doing the same for a second before giving you a more nervous look and hesitantly asking, "Do I dare ask how today went for you?"

You breathed out a heavy sigh. "Y'know what? It actually went okay, like he wasn't that bad."

Both the girls appeared to be shocked at this - given the rant you had had on Tuesday, they were definitely anticipating a different response.

Amused by their reactions, you continued to talk, telling them all about the work you'd done and how much Atsumu had improved already (although you definitely didn't forget to mention all the bickering that was still very much going on).

"Well..." Haru breathed out once you were done, a small smile on her face. "I'm really glad things are going better."

Michiko eagerly nodded in response whilst chiming in, "Yeah, although it _was_ pretty fun to watch you get so angry during your rants," to which you all laughed.

After your food had arrived and you were all happily eating, your phone buzzed in your pocket. Michiko was mindlessly nattering away to Haru about some TV show the two of them had been watching, so you figured they wouldn't mind if you checked your phone for a second.

 **miya atsumu**  
whats the difference between alveolar and postalveolar consonants?

 **y/n**  
bruh are you serious

 **y/n**  
i just left and you already have questions?

 **miya atsumu**  
pleaaaase y/n i'll leave you alone after this i promise

 **y/n**  
you better 🙄

 **y/n**  
for alveolar consonants the tongue is against or close to the ridge behind your front teeth. for postalveolar consonants the tongue is near or touching the back of the ridge

 **miya atsumu**  
thank youuu

 **miya atsumu**  
did you get home ok btw?

 **y/n**  
i actually went out to eat with haru and michiko instead

 **miya atsumu**  
ohh ok, sounds fun

 **y/n**  
it is since you're not here ❤️

 **miya atsumu**  
wtf

 **miya atsumu  
** what you so mean for 😔

 **y/n**  
im jk, have a good night atsumu

 **miya atsumu**  
i will since you're not here ❤️

 **y/n**  
ok yeah i walked into that one

You shoved your phone back into your pocket, scoffing at how easy it was for him to get on your nerves, before returning to eating your ramen and trying to tune back into Haru and Michiko's conversation.

You couldn't help the small smile that was playing on your lips though.

 _He's such a dumbass_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew okay this chapter is a lot longer than the other two so sorry about that! i'm still figuring out how long i want each chapter to be but im trying to keep them around the 2-3k words mark. i'm aware that the plot is pretty slow moving too so im sorry if its a bit boring at times - im mainly focusing on laying the groundwork for atsumu and reader's friendship atm, but more eventful plot points will come in later chapters (especially once more characters are introduced!). if you have any feedback though - positive or negative - i would genuinely love to hear it!!
> 
> thank you so much for all the kudos up till now also!! i honestly only started writing this because i had a bunch of random atsumu hcs that i just wanted to compile into one fanfic, so its kinda a shock to see people even reading it let alone like it lol. it makes my whole day tho so genuinely thank you <3
> 
> anyways i hope you enjoyed! :)


	4. who's the scaredy-cat now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the kinda late update!! here's an extra long chapter to make up for it

Something you had heard a lot last year was to not take first year for granted because second year gets so much harder - recently, you were noticing this more than ever.

It was the following Wednesday and luckily you had only had one lecture in the late morning, but the exhaustion you were feeling made you wish it was the weekend already. You had come to one of the university cafeterias to eat your lunch and yet you found yourself with your head resting on your arms on the table, your lunch going untouched as you began to slightly doze off.

You only had three classes this semester but the workload for each one was a lot more than you were used to. Not to mention, you had certainly not expected to become Atsumu's tutor either. Having to balance the tutoring, the project, and all your other classwork and commitments was definitely a difficult task - it pained you to think you were only around half-way through the semester.

It wasn't all bad though. Yesterday, you had had your usual study session with Atsumu, although this time you managed to book a study room in advance. You figured that some privacy would mean less distractions and hopefully help Atsumu to concentrate, and you were right. The session had gone very smoothly and you could see that he was making progress. In fact, you could only assume that he was putting in a lot of work himself outside of your sessions, because he definitely seemed to be a lot more comfortable with the content.

"Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead."

A familiar voice startled you awake. You slowly lifted your head and looked up to see Atsumu standing across the table from you and flashing you a smirky grin.

_Speak of the devil._

You mumbled out a small "hey" before resting your chin back down on your arms. You heard him chuckle at this, clearly amused by your sleepy state. He threw his bag down under the table and took the seat opposite you, lowering his face down to your level with his head cocked on its side.

"You good, Y/N?"

You sighed and slowly sat up, Atsumu doing the same. "Yeah, I was gonna eat lunch but sleep almost got the better of me just then."

"Ah, I see," he responded, a smile still present on his face. "Rough week, huh?"

"Mmmm, more like rough semester," you quipped, making you both laugh for a moment.

Atsumu pulled his phone out from his pocket. "Well I think Suna just got out of his lecture and I was gonna ask him if he wanted to grab lunch in here so... d'ya want some company?"

Your eyes widened a bit in surprise at the offer. "Yeah, sure... oh wait! I'm pretty sure Haru will be in that lecture too so tell Suna she's invited as well."

Atsumu nodded in response, already typing away on his phone. At the same time, you felt a buzz from inside your pocket, prompting you to get our own phone out.

**michiko**  
hiii are you still at uni? cos im around if you wanna eat lunch together!

**y/n**  
yeah i am! im at the cafeteria near the main library with atsumu. haru and suna should be joining us soon too

**michiko**  
yeah i actually just ran into them so we're on our way rn!

  
**michiko**  
wait you're with atsumu?

**y/n**  
yeah why?

**michiko**  
bruh

**michiko**  
i'D bE sUrPriSeD iF wE eVeN bEcAmE fRiEnDs

**y/n**  
??????

**michiko**  
your own famous last words after you first met him :)))

**michiko**  
and look at you now <3

**y/n**  
stopppp oh my god

**y/n**  
please we just bumped into each other, it's not like we planned to hang out 🙄

**michiko**  
sureee sureeeee

**y/n**  
keep this up and you're uninvited from lunch :)

**michiko**  
okay im kidding i swear i'll be on my best behaviour 😇

"Whatcha smiling at?"

You looked up to see Atsumu giving you a slightly intrigued expression.

"Oh, I'm just talking to Michiko."

"About me?"

You threw a deadpan look his way as he just smirked at you, evidently trying to rile you up. Obviously, you wouldn't _dare_ feed his ego by telling him that you were, in fact, talking about him.

"No, dumbass, not everything is about _you_ y'know," you retorted, to which he feigned a look of shock, although his smirk was quick to return. "She's actually gonna join us as well."

"Sounds good, she's your other roommate you were telling me about, right?"

"Yep, that's the one- oh, there they are!"

You spotted all three of them entering the cafeteria and making a beeline for your table as soon as they noticed you. Michiko began to speedwalk towards you and upon reaching you she threw her arm around your shoulder and pulled you into a side hug, making you giggle.

"How's your day been, Michiko?" you asked, pulling away from her.

"Eh, it's been okay. I'm definitely ready to go home already though," she huffed, making you laugh in agreement. You noticed her briefly glance at Atsumu before looking back at you, an expectant look on her face. You took this as your cue to introduce the two of them, letting them say hello to each other as Michiko pulled up a chair. Haru and Suna had already sat down at this point, with Haru sitting next to you and Suna sitting across from her. You turned towards the two of them.

"How was your lecture, guys?"

"It was alright. We're looking at 17th century poetry at the moment so it can get pretty brutal," Haru mumbled whilst stretching her arms above her head.

You wrinkled your nose in response. "Jeez, yeah that does _not_ sound fun."

"Mhm, we have a couple essays on it coming up soon too," Suna chimed in from across the table.

"Ugh, did you _have_ to remind me of that, Suna?" Haru groaned with her head now in her hands, making the both of you laugh.

"God, deadlines sure are approaching pretty fast, huh?" you thought out loud, the other two humming in agreement.

The three of you continued to talk about your studies for a bit until you became aware of a pair of loud voices next to you.

"You're kidding me, right?" Atsumu exclaimed, giving Michiko a look of utter disbelief.

"Nope!"

"Wow, you couldn't be _more_ wrong."

"I'm not wrong - clearly you just don't have good taste."

"Well clearly you're just stupid."

"Yeah? If I'm so stupid then how come _I'm_ not the one failing linguistics, hm?"

"Linguistics is nothing compared to volleyball, which I'm amazing at by the way."

"Oh please, I bet volleyball is easy. You just throw a ball around-"

"It is NOT just thr-"

"Woah hold on," Suna interjected, holding his hands out to stop their argument before it could escalate any further. "What the hell is going on here?"

You and Haru were just as confused, staring at the pair of them intently. Michiko looked fairly calm but her slight smug expression gave away that she was intentionally trying to wind Atsumu up. You had figured this might happen - both Atsumu and Michiko had fairly playful natures and neither of them were shy of picking arguments, so it was only natural that they would clash. You could tell that their argument wasn't serious, but Atsumu definitely seemed to be a bit more irritated. Michiko's volleyball comment probably struck a bit of a nerve with him.

"Michiko here was trying to tell me that pepsi is somehow better than coke," Atsumu finally mumbled. At this, the other three of you couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"We leave you alone for _two minutes_ and you start arguing over _soda_? Seriously?" you wheezed amidst your laughter.

"It's a very important debate!" Michiko exclaimed defensively. "Pepsi is way too underrated."

"Yeah, rightly so." Atsumu retorted, a challenging smirk on his face.

Michiko sighed and turned towards you, pouting a bit whilst grumbling, "I thought you said he wasn't that bad!"

At this, Atsumu's smirk only grew bigger, his gaze darting over to you.

"Oh did you now?"

Clearly, your worries about feeding Atsumu's ego from before were futile because Michiko had just completely thrown you under the bus. She was giving you a sheepish, apologetic smile upon realising this whilst Haru and Suna only continued to laugh.

"Ugh, I meant in terms of _studying_ \- don't get it twisted," you groaned, shooting a glare at him.

"Whatever you say- _ow!"_ he yelped out as you cut him off by kicking his foot under the table.

"You deserved that!" Michiko chimed in, making Atsumu scowl at her. She stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to you and grinning. Next to you, Haru was just shaking her head to herself, still chuckling a bit at the whole thing. After a few seconds of silence, Suna cleared his throat.

"Anyway... I think it's pretty obvious that coke is the superior drink."

The table instantly erupted into chaos once again.

_So much for that lunchtime nap._

—

Despite the arguing that had ensued on Wednesday, you ended up eating lunch together for the rest of the week. Of course, hanging out together resulted in more petty debates and insults being thrown around (mostly between Michiko and Atsumu), but for the most part it was actually pretty fun. Aran had joined on the Friday as well and even though he only really knew the other guys, he quickly grew accustomed to all the jokes and you felt very comfortable in his company. In fact, you felt that way with the whole group. As much as you loved just hanging out with your roommates, it was really refreshing to be in a larger group setting.

Michiko had been right about you and Atsumu becoming friends too - you couldn't deny that now - but you certainly hadn't expected to really get to know his friends either. It was... nice.

Yours and Atsumu's friendship became extra obvious to you when you went over to his place on Saturday afternoon for yet another study session. Upon arriving at his apartment, you made a sheepish comment about how you felt kind of bad for always being round at the weekends, and that you hoped you weren't intruding too much.

"Are you serious?" Atsumu replied, a genuinely confused tone in his voice. "You're fine, don't worry about it. We're all your friends now anyway."

He was already walking in the direction of the kitchen whilst you stood still for a few seconds in surprise, still taking his words in. His reply had been so nonchalant, as if what he said was so obvious to him. It was strange how easily you had managed to slip into each other's lives, especially considering how it had only been two weeks ago that he was making you want to tear your hair out in this very apartment. I mean, he did still sometimes make you want to do that, but you at least enjoyed his company now.

Thankfully, you had already finished up your phonology section of the project so you were able to move on to the next topic, which was syntax. Atsumu seemed to grasp this topic quite well - every now and again you'd have to refresh his memory on different sentence types, but for the most part he understood everything. After a while you both ended up quietly working on different parts of the project, your only interruption being the odd question from Atsumu.

"Damn, you two sure are working hard, huh?"

Suna was stood at the doorway, his comment snapping you out of your concentration. Next to you, Atsumu slowly sat up from being hunched over his work, stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Yeah, we're probably gonna finish up soon. What's the time?"

"Around 5:50."

"Oh okay, that's not too bad then."

"Dude, did you forget?"

"Forget what?"

"...About Bokuto and Hinata?"

"Oh _shit!"_

Your head had been flicking back and forth between the two of them as they spoke, not being able to understand what they were talking about. Atsumu registered the look of confusion on your face.

"I basically have a couple of my teammates coming over at six but I forgot... so..."

"Oh, I see," you said, before realising what that probably meant for you. " _Oh,_ I should probably get going then right?" You hurriedly began to pack your things away into your bag.

"Wait, would you wanna join us? We were just gonna get pizza and watch a movie so it'll be chill, plus you're already here so... why not?" Atsumu suggested, making you stop what you were doing and look over at him. You were taken aback by his offer and you were sure this was showing on your face, but he just continued to casually smile at you. You weren't quite sure what to say - it sounded like a nice idea, but the pressure of not just meeting some of Atsumu's teammates but also then having to hang out with them was intimidating to you.

You briefly looked over at Suna and he seemed to notice the hesitation on your face.

"You could always invite Haru and Michiko too if that would make you more comfortable?"

"Yeah, that'd be fun!" Atsumu chimed in, his smile growing wider. You smiled back at him and nodded, saying that you would text Haru right away. She was quick to respond, letting you know that the both of them would be over in about 20 minutes or so.

Whilst waiting for the others to arrive, you and Atsumu tidied up your study materials on the table. Suna was busying himself by cleaning up any dishes left on the worktop. Aran eventually joined and - once Atsumu had caught him up on the new plans - he decided to grab his laptop and start ordering the pizzas.

"You okay?" Atsumu asked as you were zipping up your pencil case.

"Yeah! I'm just feeling a bit nervous about meeting new people," you responded, giving him a small smile. He chuckled a bit at your comment.

"Don't worry about it. I don't think it's possible to be intimidated by Bokuto and Hinata - they're both really nice."

You nodded in response, his words calming your nerves a bit as you returned to packing your bag. Suna was right too - you definitely felt comforted by the fact that the girls were coming as well. If anything, you felt quite excited to have a Saturday night in after a hard week with both old and new friends.

Suddenly, you felt Atsumu's hand on your head as he ruffled your hair, snapping you out of your thoughts.

"Aw, look at you gettin' all shy." His tone was incredibly teasing and you could hear the smirk in his voice. Shoving him off you, you looked over to scowl at him.

"Shut up, I'm sure I'll much prefer your friends to you anyway," you retorted, a sarcastic smile on your face. Before he even had a chance to reply, you lifted your own arm to flick him on the forehead. You couldn't help but giggle at his shocked reaction.

"Oi, you two, stop messin' about and come choose what pizza you want."

—

Bokuto and Hinata were both, in fact, lovely.

You found out that Bokuto was a third year so at first you were a bit intimidated by him, but the boy was practically sunshine personified. You would have never guessed he was older than you. As soon as the two of you were introduced, he had given you the biggest smile and instantly began asking you lots of questions. He seemed genuinely interested in everything you said too, so it wasn't long until you felt incredibly comfortable in his presence.

Hinata on the other hand was the only first year in the group, so initially he was even more nervous than you were. He was practically following Bokuto around like a lost puppy, but after talking to him for a bit you could tell that he was also very friendly. It only took asking him a bit about volleyball to get him passionately rambling about the sport - you could tell from the way he spoke about Bokuto and Atsumu that he looked up to them a lot too. It warmed your heart just listening to him.

By the time Michiko and Haru had arrived, the whole room was bustling with chatter and noise. Suna, Atsumu and Bokuto were having a loud conversation about volleyball, the latter two frequently bouncing off each other with jokes that would make all three of them erupt into laughter. Michiko was showing Hinata something on her phone, happily nattering away whilst he seemed to listen intently. You were stood with Haru and Aran as you chatted together. Unlike Bokuto, Aran definitely had the vibe of being older. He was very mature and intelligent whilst also being easy to talk to, which often resulted in some genuinely interesting conversations. Although, in Atsumu's case, any of his good friends would probably seem mature next to him.

"Oh, by the way, what movie are we watching?" Haru asked, turning her head towards Aran.

"The guys seemed pretty set on watching some horror movie so probably that as long as everyone else is okay with it."

Haru looked back at you for a moment with a knowing smirk. "Well it may take some convincing to get this one and Michiko to comply."

Aran's eyes flitted over to you, a smile on his face. "Do you not like horror movies Y/N?"

"It's not that I don't _like_ them, I just... as long as you give me a pillow to hide behind then I'll be fine," you mumbled, sheepishly smiling back at him as he chuckled at your words.

By the time the pizzas had arrived, everyone decided that it was time to put the movie on. As expected, when Michiko found out what the movie choice was, she began protesting about how she won't be able to sleep for a week, but to no avail. Bokuto was already settled in front of the TV and loading up the movie, so unfortunately there didn't seem to be any way out. You linked your arm with Michiko in support.

"Let's sit together. If it's really bad then you can always come sleep in my bed tonight, 'kay?"

Michiko seemed to accept your offer but was still quietly muttering under her breath as the two of you padded over to the empty sofa. You sat down with Michiko to your left, who was still clutching onto your arm. As everyone else began to take their seats, you noticed Hinata looking around the room nervously. He'd been a bit quiet ever since the horror movie had been mentioned and you figured that perhaps he was also feeling scared. Catching his eye, you gave him a comforting smile and patted the empty spot next to you. Relief washed over his face and he smiled back at you as he darted over to the sofa.

Atsumu had sat himself on a bean bag on the floor just in front of Michiko with Bokuto to his left, also on a bean bag. He turned around to look at the three of you, instantly laughing at your tense expressions. This caught Bokuto's attention, making him flash a grin in your direction.

"Aw, look at you guys all huddled up together!"

"Just shut up and start the damn movie already," Michiko grumbled, earning a laugh from the two of them.

Haru, Suna and Aran had all pulled up chairs on the righthand side. From what you could tell, they all seemed to be unfazed by horror and so were also rather amused by the state of the three of you on the sofa.

Once you had all settled down with your pizza, Bokuto started the movie and everyone fell silent. Like any typical horror movie, the opening scene ended up being particularly frightening. You and Michiko were both watching through your fingers, not daring to look whenever an obvious jump scare was about to happen. It wasn't long until Hinata was also cowering into your side, yelping at any loud noises (much to the entertainment of everyone else).

Atsumu and Bokuto were both joking around to ease the tension and loudly commenting on the plot, often yelling about how dumb all the characters were. Every now and again, they would turn around to tease the three of you on the sofa, which often resulted in a middle finger from Michiko or Hinata putting on a brave face, trying (and failing) to act like he wasn't _that_ scared. However, you couldn't help but notice their own stiff body language, and how they seemed to be huddling a bit closer to each other than before.

During a moment where the two of them were both intently watching the movie - a particularly tense scene playing out on the screen - an idea sprung to mind. You looked around at everyone else with a finger pressed to your lips, gesturing for them all to stay quiet. You slowly leaned forward and reached your arm out so that your hand was just hovering over Atsumu's shoulder, before suddenly grabbing it. He instantly let out a very loud shriek and practically fell off his bean bag, which in turn elicited an almost identical reaction from Bokuto. The rest of you were in hysterics, no longer paying attention to the movie as the two of them just yelled at you.

"Jesus, Y/N, ya almost gave me a fuckin' heart attack!" Atsumu spluttered out, glowering at you as he panted out heavy breaths.

"Who's the scaredy-cat now, huh?" you quipped, unable to contain your own laughter.

"I only screamed because Atsumu sounded like he was getting murdered!" Bokuto exclaimed defensively, looking just as flabbergasted. Atsumu turned and jokingly shoved him in the shoulder, Bokuto grinning at him as the both of them began to laugh at the whole thing too.

For the rest of the movie, Atsumu and Bokuto didn't dare tease you anymore and remained quite quiet themselves as the plot reached its climax. Towards the end, almost everyone was screaming and yelling at different scary scenes. Aran and Suna were the only ones able to remain silent, but you still noticed them subtly flinching every now and again. Haru definitely seemed more frightened than she was at the beginning - no doubt if there was any more space on the sofa, she wouldn't hesitate to join you.

Once the movie was over, you all started chatting again - albeit more quietly now - but you could hear the nervousness in everyone's voices. You and Michiko stayed huddled together on the sofa, both of you feeling very on edge and not wanting to move. Hinata eventually stood up and stretched his arms above his head.

"Hey Bokuto, can you, um... stand outside the door and wait for me whilst I go to the toilet?"

A few of you chuckled at that, including yourself (even though you were in no place to laugh - you knew full well that you and Michiko would likely be sharing a bed tonight). Bokuto instantly smiled and got up off the floor.

"Yeah, sure!"

He was doing his best to sound cheerful but you could hear the slight waver in his voice. As they began to walk out the room, Bokuto started frantically looking around at everyone, a slight look of desperation on his face. Eventually, Suna rolled his eyes and threw a deadpan look at him.

"Do you want me to come and wait with you?"

Bokuto nodded eagerly and gave Suna a relieved smile. Suna sighed and followed them both out the room, much to the amusement of everyone else. Aran also got up and began to tidy up the plates and empty pizza boxes, Haru doing the same to help out.

You eventually pried yourself out of Michiko's grasp, who was still curled up in the corner of the sofa, eyes screwed tightly shut. Atsumu had stood up and turned around to face the two of you, smirking at Michiko's cowering form.

"Michiko?"

She opened one of her eyes, peeping out to see Atsumu with his hand extended out towards her as an offer to help her up. Instead, she groaned and whacked his hand away before shutting her eyes again, clearly not mentally ready to move from her spot yet. His mouth fell open and he looked at you as you chuckled at their interaction. Muttering a small "fine, be like that then", he reached his hand out towards you instead, which you took. As he pulled you up, he frowned down at your hands.

"Woah, why are your hands so cold?"

"Oh, probably because I was clutching real hard onto my pillow towards the end there," you replied with a slight laugh as you let go of his hand. He just smirked at you.

"Well don't worry, we're gonna walk you all home so nothing'll get ya on the way."

"Hmm, I'm not really sure if I can trust you to protect me after your little moment before."

Atsumu shot a glare at you as you giggled at the memory, but it wasn't long until he was smiling again and laughing along with you.

"Touché."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i did not initially plan for atsumu and reader to develop this slowly but its tagged as slow burn for a reason i guess lol
> 
> i've been very busy with uni at the moment hence the delay, but i'll do my best to update again within the next week. if you've made it this far then thank you!! as i said last time, i'm still kinda shocked that some people are invested in my story :')
> 
> i hope you enjoyed! as always, let me know any thoughts that you have <3


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